


Attention, Wal-Mart Shoppers

by transfixeddream



Category: Supernatural RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-05-17
Updated: 2011-05-17
Packaged: 2017-10-19 12:16:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,923
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/200766
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/transfixeddream/pseuds/transfixeddream
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Working in retail isn't Jared's idea of hell, even during the holiday season. Working with the guy he's been crushing on for three years and the friends that give him shit for it, though, kind of is.</p><p>Also posted <a href="http://transfixeddream.livejournal.com/85317.html">here</a>.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Attention, Wal-Mart Shoppers

**Author's Note:**

> Written for paula_lirio for spn_j2_xmas!

Messed up hours is one of the worst things about retail during the holidays. Jared considers himself to be a pretty happy-go-lucky, hyper sort of guy, but working sixteen hours in a twenty-four hour period will even get to him. It's kind of an understatement when Jensen's worked that much.

Jensen's standing behind the jewelry counter, slouched over with an elbow up and his face in hand. He looks even more exhausted than he did eight hours ago when Jared last saw him, and Jared figures he couldn't have gotten much sleep. When Jared gets closer, Jensen stands up straight and stretches, yawning.

"You selling earrings now?" Jared asks as he walks over, grinning.

"Nah, just watching it for Danneel," Jensen says, then points. "Mm, that what I think it is?" He's eyeing the bulge under Jared's coat like it's a rib-eye.

Jared tries not to laugh. "Yeah," he says, lifting his coat up and holding out the tray of coffee.

"Sneaky bastard." Jensen hums happily, leaning over and pulling the extra large cup from the holder. He opens the tab and blows on it once, then gulps the hot coffee down with gusto, making low, grateful moans that force Jared to look away and feign searching for Misha or Chad. In the time Jared's known Jensen, one thing he's figured out is that Jensen's a total slut for coffee. He downs it with dirty noises that come straight from Jared's best fantasies; he doesn't drink it, he makes goddamned love to it. No matter how many times he's witnessed Jensen with coffee, it's never gotten any less pornographic.

Smacking his lips, Jensen sets the cup down and then groans. "This friggin' job, man. Next year, I'm quitting in November. I'll be a bum for Christmas."

Jared snorts, because Jensen's been saying the same thing every December for the past three years that Jared's been working here, and according to Danneel he's been saying it even longer than that. Despite how much he pretends to hate it, Jared knows Jensen's just a big softie when it comes to the holidays. Jared will never say it to his face, though, because he likes having balls, thank you very much.

Jared pulls his cup out and sets the tray on the counter, then takes a deep drink. "Awesome, I'll join you," he says. "I know some Hanson lyrics; we can team panhandle."

Jensen shoots him a glare over his coffee, takes another sip, slower this time, and says, "I'm serious. Two shifts in twenty-four hours? How masochistic do I gotta be to be working here for _six years_?"

"Wow, four syllables on only five hours of sleep," comes Danneel's voice, immediately followed by her hand pulling the last cup out of the paper holder. "I'm impressed, Ackles."

Jared's not sure how Jensen and Danneel's friendship works, other than the fact that it's based on basically one-upping each other with snarky comebacks, but it does. Neither of them has killed the other yet, at least. Jensen flips her off as she steps behind the counter and he shifts over to make room for her, then resumes sipping at his coffee. Jared finally takes notice of Jensen's head then--he doesn't have long hair or anything, but he tends to keep it gelled and spiked. Today it's gel free, loosely tousled like he crawled out of bed five minutes before he was due at work and just ran his fingers through it. Hell, that's probably exactly what happened.

Danneel coughs and Jared looks quickly at her, then away twice as fast, realizing a little too late that he was staring. That he was _caught_ staring. Jensen snorts and Jared looks back to him, takes in the slightly cocked eyebrow and the lifted corner of his mouth. He tries not to flush under Jensen's gaze and instead shifts his focus to Danneel. She gives him a pointed look, eyebrow raised.

"Shouldn't you be stocking shelves or something, Jared? Not that I'm not grateful for the free coffee or anything, which you're not supposed to have around here, by the way."

Jared runs a hand through his hair and nods. "Yeah. Yeah, right. I'm supposed to be-- stocking shelves, yeah. Uh, okay. So, I'll see you guys later, I guess."

"Mm," Jensen says as he sets his cup down. He nods. "Thanks for the coffee, man. If I don't pass out in electronics, know it's because of you."

Jensen flashes him a small smile--probably all he can muster this early in the morning--and Jared says, "Awesome," and then gets the hell out of there before he starts grinning stupidly over what Jensen just said.

*

Genevieve is on her tiptoes, placing balls back into their boxes and then onto the display shelf, all while mumbling obscenities when Jared finds her.

"Whoa," Jared says, taking in the scattered basketballs all over the place. "What the hell happened?"

"I hate kids, Jared," Genevieve answers, pushing another one onto the shelf. She pushes too hard and there's a distinct sound of boxes hitting the floor on the opposite aisle, leaving her swearing under her breath. She pushes her hair behind her ear and then sighs. "Who the hell comes up with these displays?"

"Eric, because he's a sadistic bastard," Jared says while Genevieve goes to the other side to restack whatever she knocked off.

"He might be a dead bastard soon," she says with venom as she returns. " _Fucking_ \-- why do they put these things so high? You have to be a giant or something just to reach." She looks Jared up and down. "Hey, Gigantor, gimme a hand."

Jared picks up two boxes near him up and sets them on the shelf. "Also, you don't hate kids," he says, picking up from her last statement, grinning. "You love kids."

"Fine," she says and passes him two more boxes. "Then I hate kids ages four to sixteen, from December first through December twenty-fourth. Actually, anybody thirteen and up I tend to hate all year round."

Jared shrugs. "Fair enough." He pauses and glances down at her hands, fingers clenching into the thick rubber of the ball. "So. I'm going out on a limb here, but. You need a nicotine fix?"

Genevieve groans. "Like you wouldn't believe."

Fighting back a grin, Jared slots a ball back into its cardboard container. "I think it's sweet that you're quitting for Aldis and his asthma."

"I'm not quitting for _him_ ," she snaps. "I happen to care very much about my body." She shrugs and passes him another ball. "Or something like that."

"Whatever you say."

"Okay, now you're just being patronizing."

This time, Jared does grin. "Yeah, maybe. Still think it's real sweet of you, though."

She tosses one of the stray basketballs at his chest, hard. "Speaking of sweet," she starts, and Jared groans because he knows where this is going; Genevieve smirks because she does, too. "How's Jensen doing today? Is he still _dreamy_?"

 _Once_. He gets drunk one damn time and refers to Jensen with a couple words he'd never say sober, and he'll never hear the end of it. "He's running on like, four hours of sleep. He's got bags under his eyes," he says, deflecting.

"And?" she prompts.

Jared sighs and sets the ball on the shelf, defeated. "Yes, he's still kind of dreamy."

"Now _that_ ," Genevieve says after a moment, "is adorable."

"I really hate you," Jared says. "Why can't you be nicer?"

"Because you don't get to the best friend position by being nice. You get it by pointing out every stupid thing people do."

She has a point, Jared figures. But still. "Doesn't mean you gotta be so damn happy doing it."

Genevieve shrugs. "Job ain't without its perks."

*

"You're insane. One hundred percent certifiable," Jensen says when he opens the door. He's wearing jeans and a tee, a cup of coffee in his hand, and he looks more relaxed and well-rested than Jared's seen him for a while.

"Dude," Jared says, shaking a box of beads he brought, "Merry Christmas to you, too."

"It's my day off. You _really_ gotta put up a Christmas tree today?"

Jared raises his eyebrows. "Wow, okay, Scrooge. Do I needa send three ghosts your way or something?"

Jensen snorts and shakes his head, opening the door wider so Jared can slip past. Jared's relieved, because he was about to lose his fingers out there. They might be in Texas, but it's still cold as fuck in December.

When he steps inside Jensen's living room, Danneel's already at the half-built tree, bunches of plastic tree branches in her hand as she carefully slots them into place. Jensen's allergic to the real deal, so he's stuck with the fake kind, and Danneel's setting it up with the utmost precision. Jensen settles onto the couch--Jared suspects that's where he was before Jared rang the doorbell--and watches her, feet propped up on the coffee table as he sips from his mug.

"Tell me he hasn't just sat there the whole time." Jared shoots Jensen a look. "Dude, you're not gonna help the lady with the Christmas tree?"

"He has," Danneel says over her shoulder. "To be fair, I wouldn't let him help set it up. Plus he bought me beer."

"He bought you beer, and you put up his tree. Doesn't seem all that fair of a trade." Jared lifts up a box of ornaments, pushes Jensen's feet off the coffee table, and sets it down on the spot Jensen's feet just vacated.

Jensen swallows his mouthful of coffee and sits up straighter. "Hey, I'm not the one who insisted on putting up my tree on December eleventh."

"I put mine up on December first," says Jared.

"Well, yeah. But that's because you are a crazy person," says Jensen, but it lacks any heat.

"If I'm a crazy person, then what does that make you?"

Pausing to consider, Jensen shrugs, then punches Jared's arm. "Crazier, I guess." He says it fondly, corners of his mouth twitching up in amusement as he shifts on the couch. It's probably stupid and immature, and Genevieve would give him shit for it, but Jared grins back thinking, _I did that,_ and slaps Jensen's knee. Jensen's gaze drops for a second, then it rises back again as his smile gets a little larger, eyes crinkling at the corners.

It's shocking sometimes when Jared realizes how much he wants Jensen. He knows on a normal, primal level that Jensen makes him crazy in the best possible way, and he's willing to accept that as just that--pure, basic attraction. Then there are times like this, times when Jensen smiles at something, eyes squinting slightly as he runs his tongue over his bottom lip, and Jared ends up being blown away by just how much he wants to touch, how much he wants to kiss the smirking smile right off that mouth.

"If somebody doesn't help me with this tree, you're both getting castrated."

Jared's jolted out of his thoughts--thankfully--by those words. He looks away from Jensen to Danneel and then behind her, takes in that the tree's completely set up and then smiles sheepishly. "Right, I. Sorry." He coughs and stands up, awkwardly picking up a bag of tangled tree lights. "Uh, Jen, are these all you've got?" he asks, as he attempts to pull them apart.

Nodding, Jensen rises from the couch, then takes a step towards Jared. "Here, let me help."

"Nah," Jared says, shaking his head, "I can do it. Could get me something to drink, though."

"Oh, shit, Christmas really does wipe me of my manners. What do you want, coffee? Beer? I think I might have some Coke--"

"Uh, coffee's fine."

"Okay." Jensen nods. "One coffee, coming right up."

Jared drops his head and focuses on unknotting the string of lights. He startles slightly when he feels Danneel's shoulder press into his arm, and he looks up again.

"You could just tell him, you know."

He wants to tell her that Jensen's not the only openly gay guy at work. He wants to tell her that if Jensen was interested, he'd have asked by now, or at least shown some sort of an interest in the possibility. Instead, Jared just flashes her a short smile and shakes his head. "Nah," he says. "I really couldn't."

"Why not? _Jared_." It looks like she wants to say more, but then she looks up to see Jensen coming back in with Jared's coffee, and she shuts her mouth, then goes to sort through the bulbs.

He's kind of relieved.

*

There are a lot of reasons Jared likes working at Wal-Mart. He gets employee discounts, the hours are decent and he works with awesome people. And, during the holidays when only one of those stays constant, there's still the adjoining McDonald's to look forward to so he doesn't have to go far on lunch breaks.

Chad's talking, going on about some chick who he claims totally invited him into one of the changing rooms, but Jared's pointedly ignoring him in favor of scarfing down a Quarter Pounder. Not pointedly enough, apparently, because mid-way through his story Chad pauses and tilts his head, frowns and says, "Dude, are you even listening to me?"

"Uh, no," Jared says.

Chad raises a ketchup-dipped fry at him. "Y'know, it's not exactly fair. You could at least pretend to have an interest in my sex life, considering I listen to you worship Ackles' dick."

"Dude!" Jared whips his head around, looking for anybody who might've heard.

"Calm down, nobody heard about your lame man-crush." Chad shrugs and slides down his chair a little. "Okay, since you're being a horrible friend, I'll demonstrate how to be a good one. How'd tree decorating go with Mr. Insanely Gorgeous? You gonna pop the question anytime soon?"

There's a reason why Jared's given up on alcohol, especially when his so-called friends are around to harass him about the stupid shit he's said. It's better for his sanity--and his pride. Fortunately, Misha's heading towards them, so Jared kicks Chad hard under the table and shoots him a death glare, then puts on a smile for Misha.

"Hey, Misha," Chad says, smirking. Misha started here mid-November and Chad's endlessly amused by the shit he comes out with. Jared doesn't say anything, but he's pretty sure that Misha's equally amused by Chad's moronic statements.

"Hello." Misha sits down beside Chad, carton of Chinese sitting on his tray. Jared's learned by now not to ask and just go along with it. "What are we talking about?"

Jared tries not to flush when he says, "Uh, nothing. Sports." Misha considers him for a long second and Jared bites into his burger in order to avoid his look.

"Were you talking about Jensen?"

Jared nearly chokes on his burger. He swallows his bite down with a drink of soda and says, " _What_? No. No, why would you think that?"

Misha picks up his fork and shrugs. "No reason. You just tend to blush when talking about Jensen. Probably because of your crush."

"I do not," Jared manages, already feeling his face getting hot, "have a crush on Jensen."

Glancing at Chad, Misha says, "Was this supposed to be a secret? I thought everybody knew. You haven't been very subtle with your infatuation."

Despite wanting to hit him, Jared has to give Misha that. If a guy who's been working here for less than a month can see it, Jared really is that pathetic. Also, it pretty much sucks to know that he's practically one level from doodling Jensen's name in a heart on his hand, and Jensen still doesn't notice.

Chad snorts and shakes his head. "Everybody except the dumbass himself, yeah. Which is why Jay-man should just find some balls and ask Jenny out before his dick falls off."

Jared shoots Chad a glare, but Misha cuts off any words he's about to say with, "There was a girl at the last store I worked for. She was in love with a co-worker for five years." Instead of elaborating, Misha pierces a piece of broccoli and chews on it.

"Well?" Chad says, right when Jared says, "And?"

Misha looks up from his food, scrunching his eyebrows together. "What?"

"Then what happened?"

"Oh. She, uh. She told him." He slurps on a noodle and looks away.

"And _then_ what?" Chad persists. "Misha, man, you kind of suck at story telling."

Misha takes a drink of water, sets his bottle down, says, "He laughed in her face and she shot him," and then takes another forkful of food. He runs his tongue over his teeth, pausing. "He later died from his wounds," he adds finally.

It feels like forever as Jared tries to wrap his brain around that. By looking at Chad, he doesn't seem to be having any better luck.

"Okay," Jared says slowly. "And how, exactly, is that supposed to help me?"

Misha blanches. "It's not," he says evenly. "I actually assumed it would deter you, which is why I left it out. But you pressed me, so," he pauses and chews on his lip, then shrugs, "the moral of the story is that dating someone you work with will most certainly end in bloodshed."

There's really not much more Jared can do but stare at Chad, who stares right back. Eventually, Chad coughs into his hand and says, "Uh. Okay, then."

It's three more words than Jared can think of.

Misha doesn't appear to notice any discomfort; he keeps eating his Chinese in happy, silent contentment. Finally, he sets the carton down and surveys them both. "Well, this was a pleasant talk. We'll have to do it again sometime." Then he's standing up and walking away, and Jared kind of wants to laugh, or cry.

"Wow," Chad says after a moment. He shakes his head and picks up his burger; huffs. "Man, that is one weird dude."

Jared nods wordlessly.

*

"So, I'm pretty sure he's making it up," Chad says finally, long after Misha's gone. It snaps Jared out of his daze; he's been staring at the Christmas-style Hamburglar painted on one of the windows for about five minutes straight.

"You're only _pretty_ sure?"

Chad shrugs. "About ninety percent. Didn't he work in Michigan? Who knows what kinda shit goes on up there."

"That's... not actually very helpful," Jared says. He frowns and stands up, then walks the five steps to the trash. "You don't think I'd shoot Jensen if he laughed in my face, do you?" He doesn't think that Jensen laughing in his face would warrant his death or anything.

Chad blinks for a minute, then huffs and shakes his head. "Jay, man, I really don't think you'd have a reason to. Wait another two years to tell him, though, and he might end up shooting _you_."

Sighing, Jared dumps the contents of his tray into the garbage can. "So, what'd you end up doing with that chick?"

"Hm?"

"The girl you were talking about twenty minutes ago. The one who invited you into the changing rooms? You say yes, or?"

"Oh, her," Chad recalls, smirking. "Yeah, I kinda made that shit up. You should know that by now." He takes one last long drink of soda before tossing it into the trash. "But nice attempt at a subject change. I'll give it an A for effort, C for subtlety."

Jared shrugs, grinning a little. "Yeah, well. I tried."

Chad hums, then starts walking out of McDonald's, and Jared follows him.

Despite calling him out on the subject change, Chad seems to get that Jared's not really into discussing Jensen and the use of handguns; he shifts into more neutral ground, explaining in mind-numbing detail about the crystal figurine he bought his mom for Christmas, and how he's going to be the best son in the world when she opens it. It's not exactly quality conversation, but it beats the alternative.

They take the scenic route through the front of the store, past the check-outs, the food, the pet section, the bathrooms--basically, it's awesome that the McDonald's restaurant is in the farthest possible location from their stations.

"I mean, I think it's pretty awesome," Chad's saying by the time they reach the toy department. Jared's wondering if a Jensen-centric conversation would've been so painful, considering Chad's talking about the leg lamp ala _A Christmas Story_ that he bought for his dad. Jared can't help glancing around, looking for Genevieve.

He spots her standing next to an end cap, and he gives Chad a quick, "Alright, later man," before heading swiftly to Genevieve. Upon closer inspection, he realizes she's watching two teenagers as they look at a display of Webkinz.

"What're you doing?" he asks her, and she startles, nearly swallowing the lollipop in her mouth.

"Shit, where'd you come from? Figured you'd be gone for another five minutes at least."

Jared shrugs. "Chad was telling me about the gifts he got his family. I bailed before he could tell me he bought his grandma a negligee or something." He pauses and takes in the scene in the middle of the aisle. "What are you _doing_?"

Genevieve makes a noise and looks back at the guys. "Making sure the bastards don't steal the codes and ruin some little kid's Christmas."

"That's really nice of you, but, uh, I don't actually think they're going to steal anything. Maybe they're picking out which one they want to buy."

"They're like fifteen," she says absently as she shoots them the stink eye. "Nobody over twelve has a Webkinz."

"They could be buying it for their sister or something," he rations, then crinkles his brow. "Hey, wait. I have a Webkinz."

Genevieve snorts. "That's because you're a five year old girl in a Sasquatch's body."

"It was a gift!"

"Mhm," she says. "Speaking of your five year old self, how'd trimming Ackles' tree go?" She pauses, then raises an eyebrow. "Wow, I can be perverted without even trying. That's pretty great."

"Chad asked me the same thing, only without the added perverseness. Uh, shockingly," Jared says instead of an answer. He scratches the back of his neck and tries to act casual when he asks, "Hey, do you think Jensen knows how to shoot a gun?"

Genevieve stares blankly at him. "Why?"

Jared shrugs and coughs in his fist. "No reason. Oh, hey, look. Boys're gone."

Genevieve turns and heads towards the pile of stuffed animals, rooting through them, her tongue between her teeth as she searches. Finally, she holds up a Pink Goggle that's missing its tag. "God-fucking-dammit!"

He doesn't laugh--because people actually get really pissed off when they buy a stuffed animal only to find out the code's been stolen, and they can be real assholes about it--but Genevieve's seething fury gets him smirking at least.

"What's up with her?"

Jared's so busy watching Genevieve that he completely misses Jensen sneaking up on him.

"Oh, hey," he says, stupidly. He can't help it when his smirk morphs into a grin. "Nothing much. Just somebody stole a Webkinz code."

Jensen whistles. "Wow, she's really... invested."

Jared shakes his head, laughing. "You have no idea, man. What're you doing here? Get lost on your way to electronics?"

"Nah," Jensen says, smiling. "I'm taking my break. Figured you might wanna tag along to McD's with me."

"Oh, shit. I just got back with Chad from there."

"Oh." Jensen's smile falters. "Right. Well, okay."

People say that Jared has the kicked puppy look down, but he's pretty sure opinions would change if they saw Jensen's right now. "Sorry," he says, and means it. "Uh, maybe tomorrow?"

Jensen nods and smiles again. Jared can't help but notice that it doesn't reach his eyes. "Yeah, that'll be cool. Uh. Okay, I better--" Jensen makes a noise and jerks his thumb over his shoulder.

Jared kind of wants to hit himself, because lunch with Jensen right now would be awesome. "Yeah, of course," he says instead. "See ya, man."

Jensen gives his shoulder a light squeeze and then heads off towards the entrance, and Jared watches him go. When he turns back, Genevieve's looking at him and seemingly calmed.

"You okay now?" he asks, raising an eyebrow. It's sort of suspicious that she's gone from pissed off to saccharine in two seconds flat.

"What was that about?" she asks, ignoring his question completely.

Jared shrugs. "Jen wanted me to go eat with him."

Genevieve looks at him like he's grown another head. "And you're still here. Why?"

"I just got back from my break."

"So take mine! Jesus Christ, men are idiots."

Jared sighs. "Why are you so invested in my sex life?"

"Because it's the holidays," she says, shrugging. "You should be jolly, getting drunk and then getting laid, not moping around like a loser on prom night. Also, Ackles is hot and I'm not his type, so somebody's gotta let me live vicariously through 'em."

"Well, it won't be me."

Genevieve looks at him like he's a puppy that keeps butting its head against a door. "You really are that delusional, aren't you?" she asks, then doesn't give him time to answer before heading down the aisle.

She could be right, Jared thinks to himself. Maybe Jensen did have more incentive than just wanting somebody to talk to over burgers--he did look disappointed that Jared couldn't--and this whole thing isn't one sided. Maybe--

Jared shakes his head and huffs. Obviously, his friends' insistence on seeing something that isn't there is rubbing off on him. Jensen's had three years to make a move; the fact that he hasn't yet is just proof that Chad and Genevieve are the delusional ones.

*

Okay, so the thing is that Jared loves his job. Even after he was warned by every other person he knows that working in retail during the holiday season would change that, it hasn't. If anything, working fucked up hours on the days and nights leading up to Christmas has made him appreciate the job a whole lot more. Mostly, he just likes helping out the customers, from the sisters who need to find something for their brothers, to the husbands who think a toaster would be a good gift for their wives.

So yeah, he's not exactly the person who complains when a customer hassles him endlessly about colors and prices and expansions, but this right here? This is not a customer wanting to know the benefits of getting the iPod Nano over the iPod Shuffle, or wondering if the Xbox 360 is a better gaming system than the Nintendo Wii. No, this is a chick who's pretending to give a shit about cameras while she deduces whether or not Jensen will let her stick her tongue down his throat.

Jared's not a jealous guy. Really. He's dealt with Jensen dating a couple of guys in the three years they've worked together pretty well, so it's stupid that he's annoyed at this, he's aware.

But it's just, Jensen's flirting back. He's leaning into her and smirking, licking his lips in a way he _has_ to know is obscene, and it's making Jared see red. It's harmless flirting; he knows that it's harmless flirting. Hell, Jensen doesn't even _go_ for girls, so there is no plausible way that he will end up sleeping with this girl or anything.

"Dude, will you come on? I need some apple pie." Jared looks over at Chad, impatiently crossing his arms.

"Go on ahead," Jared says through his teeth. "I'm waiting for Jensen."

Chad looks between Jared and Jensen, shakes his head and mutters something Jared's certain is akin to "psycho creeper", then heads towards the general direction of the McDonald's.

Jensen's hand grips the girl's arm and he presses a little, and she backs off. She's still talking when Jensen looks up, smile shifting from flirty to warm when he spots Jared. Before Jared can stop scowling, Jensen's smile turns shaky and then drops all together to complete confusion. Then, after a few beats, it changes to something that Jared can't really identify, but can only guess that Jensen's very much aware of why Jared's annoyed.

Jensen says a couple words to her, gives her a short smile and then he's leaving her in favor of heading towards Jared.

"Hey," he greets as soon as he's in range.

"Hey," Jared says back.

Jensen lips twitch into a smirk. For some reason, Jared just wants to punch it off. "So, you ready to go?"

"I, uh," Jared delays, thinking fast. "Actually, I have to go back to toys for a sec. You go ahead, I'll catch up."

"Yeah, sure. Okay."

Jensen's gone back to frowning when Jared flashes him a tight smile and heads back to his department. Jared gets away as fast as he possibly can without actually appearing like he's running away; he kind of wonders when this thing for Jensen started making him act like a thirteen year old girl.

*

Jared doesn't avoid Jensen. He ends up spending the rest of his lunch break fixing doll displays, but he's not purposely avoiding Jensen, really. It's just that the doll displays were more important than a lunch break. Besides, he's in his usual department; if Jensen wanted to find him, he could. But Jensen doesn't come find him, so whatever.

He's purging the stockroom when he hears, "Are you avoiding me?" and nearly drops the box in his hand.

When he turns around, Jensen's leaning against the door, arms folded against his chest as he watches Jared. Jared's not sure how to describe his face, sort of tense and a lot pissed, but his mouth is tugged into a small frown and he looks hurt, too.

Jared sets the box down with a sigh and straightens up, rubs his hands against his thighs and says, "No. Why?"

Jensen shrugs one shoulder but keeps his eyes on Jared. "Were supposed to meet me at McDonald's. You didn't," he adds, unnecessarily.

"Oh, I, yeah. Uh, I kind of--forgot. Wasn't all that hungry. So."

"Really." His tone is dry, like he doesn't believe Jared at all. To be fair, Jared can't exactly blame Jensen; he's always been a pretty shitty liar. "Never knew you to turn down food."

Jared shrugs but doesn't answer, just runs a hand through his hair and says, "Yeah, look. Restocking's gotta get done, so--"

Jensen nods, then pushes off the door. Instead of leaving though, he takes a couple more steps into the room. "Okay. I'll help."

Jared nods back. "Cool. Thanks," he says. There's no way he's going to be able to talk Jensen out of this, Jared knows. He doesn't even try, because the set in Jensen's jaw makes it clear it's not up for discussion anyway. One of Jensen Ackles' fatal flaws: he's a stubborn fucker on the best of days, downright impossible on the worst of.

They work in relative silence, only soft grunts and the scraping of boxes. They've done restocking before but never like this; Jared can feel the tension between them, thick in the air and Jared wants to say a lot of things, wants Jensen to say a lot of things, but at the same time--he doesn't. Things never got awkward between them before and now that things are, well. Jared hates it very much.

Which means when Jensen asks Jared to pass him one of the boxes, Jared not only listens but then blurts out, "What was up with you and that customer, man?"

Jensen blinks at him for a moment, then sets the box aside and blinks some more. "Customer?"

Jared cringes, because either Jensen's playing _that_ game, or he's got no idea what Jared's talking about. Either way you spin it, Jared's looking like a creeper. "I, uh. That... girl. The one from, y'know, earlier." Jared coughs into his hand and gives Jensen an awkward half-smile, then pushes a box with his foot.

"Oh." Jensen's eyebrows scrunch together as he recollects. "You mean Stacy?"

She has a name. Jared forces himself to not sneer when he says, "Yeah. Her."

Jensen laughs then, fingers scraping against his jaw. "Yeah." He huffs and shakes his head. "She's something else."

"Mm," Jared agrees. "So, are you, uh, I don't know. Going out with her later, or something?"

Jensen's eyes shoot up at him. "No," he says, stretching the word. "I'm pretty sure we've been over the whole _I don't like girls_ thing before, Jay."

"Oh. Yeah, right," Jared says, nodding. "You just thought it'd be nice to humor her, maybe offer up your mouth to the needy." They both flinch at the words, and Jared honestly can't decide which one of them looks more surprised right now. "Sorry. Sorry, that was stupid. I, I shouldn't have--" Jared cuts himself off with a frustrated sigh. "Sorry."

"Yeah, sure," Jensen says, voice low, and Jared kind of hates himself for it.

"Look, man, seriously. I'm sorry, I know that's not what was going on. I shouldn't have said that. I'm just--" _Jealous. I'm fucking green with it, why can't you fucking see?_ "Stressed."

Jensen nods slowly. "Yeah, holiday season and all that. Hell, I almost threw a Wii at somebody today."

"It's not just the holidays." Jared's saying it before he realizes what's coming out of his mouth, and then it's out there and he can't take it back. Maybe it's better that he doesn't try to. "Just. There's this guy. Really awesome guy, and, well, I don't think it's going to work out."

Jensen's eyebrows shoot up. "Oh, that. That sucks, Jay. Anything I can help with?"

Jared huffs a laugh because _seriously_? He's been giving Jensen too much credit over the years. It's not that he's oblivious; he's just a goddamn idiot. "No, dude," he says, and it's stupid, but he can't rid himself of the smile on his face. "No, I'm pretty sure there's nothing you can do about it."

He bends down and lifts another box and heads towards the door with it, but Jensen's voice stops him.

"Yeah?" Jared says, turning around.

"If you're not doing anything after work, we could go somewhere and--I don't know, talk. We could have coffee, or hot chocolate. Tea, if you drink tea." Jensen bites his lip. "Uh, do you drink tea?"

"I don't drink tea," Jared says. "But, yeah. Sure. That sounds nice." Not exactly what he was hoping for; coffee with Jensen as opposed to coffee _with_ Jensen, but it's gonna have to do. "I'll see if Genevieve and Danneel wanna come, yeah?"

He's just turned back towards the door when Jensen says, "Jay," again. Jared sighs and sets the box down, then turns to find Jensen standing impossibly close.

"Uh," he says as Jensen's hand closes around his forearm. Considering he's close to choking on his own spit, he figures it's a decent response.

Jensen saves him the trouble of trying to come up with a feasible sentence by gripping the back of Jared's neck, pulling him down until their mouths slot together. Jared releases a surprised breath against Jensen's lips, and Jensen chuckles back, hand sliding higher up Jared's neck to fist in his hair. And then they're kissing. Actually warm mouth on warm mouth kissing, and Jared's pretty sure that he's going to wake up at any second because _crap_. His chest feels a little tight--he's had three years to think about this, and well, it's kind of beyond perfect.

It's all over far too quickly in Jared's opinion, Jensen pulling back and knocking their foreheads together for a brief second before backing up completely. Jared figures it's not completely bad, though, at least not when there's a slow smile stretching out on those plump, fucking _gorgeous_ lips.

"I'm not really sure I want the girls there," Jensen says, a little breathless. "Considering I'm hoping that there'll be less conversation and more of, well. _That_."

Jared nods, a little stupid, but it's not like anybody can blame him. He runs his tongue across his lips, gliding along the phantom taste of Jensen's pressed against them. "I never really liked them anyway."

Jensen snorts and then he's flashing Jared a crooked grin, and for some reason it seems more blinding than usual. "Yeah, they definitely suck. Still kind of awesome, though."

"Yeah," Jared agrees, picking at the blue material of Jensen's uniform. He smiles slightly and lets his eyes rest on Jensen's face, then drops his hand and takes a step back, because otherwise he's going to have to kiss Jensen again. "Kept tellin' me I should man up, bite the bullet and ask you out, since you're so fucking oblivious."

"You really should've," Jensen agrees solemnly. "And hey, it's not like, y'know, I was _completely_ oblivious. Took me a while, but, hey, here I am, asking you out."

Jared laughs. "A while? Three _years_ , Jensen."

"Hey! This isn't all on me," Jensen protests, but he's still grinning. "I dropped hints, too. Plus I'm the one who, y'know, actually _manned up_."

Jared shakes his head and huffs out a breath. "God, you're gonna keep saying that, aren't you?"

"I am," Jensen confirms, flicking Jared's arm. "Far as oblivious points go, you're the reigning champ."

Jared pokes him in the ribs hard and he squawks, hand shooting to his side. "Shut. Up."

Jensen smiles and scratches at the back of his neck. "Sure. But, uh. First, I've got something to tell you."

"Uh oh," Jared says, mock-serious. It's stupid, really, how fucking _happy_ he is right now. He feels like he can walk on water, and he is never, under any circumstance, relaying that to Chad. "First date hasn't even happened and you're springing baggage on me?"

Jensen's eyes light up a little at the "first date" and it makes Jared giddy, knowing that Jensen's excited, to. "Hah, no. Not really... baggage, but-- You know that chick from earlier? Stacy?"

Jared nods mutely.

"Yeah, she's uh--" Jensen hisses and scratches his neck with his forefinger, lips quirking "--she's my cousin, man."

Jared blinks. "So do you normally flirt with cousins? Like, is this something I should know about? Do you have an incest kink?"

" _Dude_ , shut _up_ ," Jensen says, punching him in the arm. "I wasn't flirting with her, dufus. I was talking to her. Not my fault you were blinded by your gay love for me."

"She was looking at you like you were dinner!" Jared protests.

"No, she wasn't," Jensen says, smile tugging at his lips. "Sheesh, how jealous _were_ you?"

"Shut up," Jared says. He scratches his head and looks down at his feet. "I was--pretty jealous, yeah."

"It was kind of cute." Jensen pauses, reconsiders. "Well, after you stopped being a giant girl about it. Okay, no, after that you were just a jacka--"

"Okay!" Jared cuts him off. "Let's just agree I don't do jealous well. I'm not cute when I'm a raging bull, okay?"

Jensen smirks and nods. "Yeah, okay," he says. "Lucky for you, you're _very_ cute any other time." Then Jensen kisses him again.

Jared wants to get into it, _really_ get into it, wants to push Jensen against the wall and maybe do something with the tent in his pants, but they're also at _work_ , on the clock, and orgasms don't really factor in. Not to mention the fact that he's pretty sure Genevieve's going to come in snooping in about ten seconds. So, he pulls away and chokes out, "Work."

"Right, work," Jensen says, wincing. "Don't suppose this is really work ethic, huh?"

Jared shakes his head. "Think it goes against all work ethic. Here I am, minding my own business, and you come and sexually harass me. I should file a lawsuit."

Jensen snorts. "Right. You're the one being harassed."

Jared smirks and leans into him. "You know it, baby." Jensen kicks his shin at the words, but Jared's too busy snickering to care.

Finally, Jensen coughs, then puts on a scowl for effect. "Okay. Work."

Jared nods. "Right. Work."

Jensen nods back. "Work. But, later?"

"No work," Jared answers, grinning.

"No work," Jensen parrots, smirking a little before knocking their shoulders together. He bends down to pick up the box Jared left sitting on the floor and lifts it up supporting it with a knee until he gets a good grip. He glances at Jared, sees that he's still just standing there and deadpans, "Y'know, just because you can look at my ass without worrying now doesn't mean I'm gonna do all the heavy lifting."

Jared huffs a laugh, because he actually _wasn't_ staring at Jensen's ass for once, but does as he's told and gets to work.

*

Every year Danneel manages to let loose a little; she buys a keg of shit beer, some tacky decorations and invites any staff who're willing over to her place for a Christmas party. It tends to be a small event, twenty or so people, but Jared's been going every year since he got on at Wal-Mart and it's pretty awesome.

Not having to drown himself in the spiked eggnog this year will just make it all the better.

Okay, so he and Jensen have only been--whatever--for a couple of days, but he's feeling optimistic about it. He's pretty much always smiling and Genevieve looks at him most of the time like he's finally snapped and gone insane. So, yeah. He's feeling good.

Chad's standing by his side, filling his cup up with beer for what must be the third time since they arrived ten minutes ago. He's singing along to "Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer" under his breath and replacing "nose" with "dick", because that's what Chad does when he's three sheets to the wind. Jared stopped feigning interest when Jensen walked in, and instead focused on the jeans that must've been custom made for Jensen's ass. Still, it's not like it's Jared's fault that half-drunk Chad can't compete with Jensen; now that he knows what it's like to kiss the guy, not thinking about Jensen is a thousand times more impossible.

It's not like they're hiding it or anything, this thing between them. It's just that they both figured with the chaos of the holidays and everything, it's best that they don't go shouting their love from the rooftops. Jared's honestly considering shouting it out right now, though, if only because it means he can get Jensen out of those jeans now instead of later.

It's strange, Jared thinks, that Chad doesn't notice, even when sober. Genevieve or Danneel haven't said anything about it, either. Two days ago he was being mocked mercilessly for being too slow to realize that Jensen might want the same things Jared did, but now? Nothing. Jared figures it's probably because of the start of the rush that is the week leading up to Christmas, but still. They could at least acknowledge that Jared's not the lost puppy that he was a week ago. Really, that's all he's asking.

Jensen moves on to talk to Aldis, not actually a worker but Genevieve's date, and Jared diverts his gaze for a few moments. He catches Genevieve's eye and she gestures for him to head over. Chad's already ditched him to go flirt pathetically with Alona, manager of women's, so Jared fills his half-empty cup of eggnog from the punch bowl and heads towards Genevieve.

"Great party, huh?" she says, and Jared wants to laugh. Genevieve _hates_ parties.

"Yeah, awesome." Jared laughs, then notes pleasantly that from this angle, he's got a perfect view of Jensen again.

"You know what I want for Christmas?"

Jared looks away from Jensen and back at Genevieve, looking a mix of sympathetic and annoyed. "What?"

"You both to get a clue," she says, rolling her eyes. Jared bites down on his cheek to keep from smiling. "He likes you, you know."

Jared shrugs, trying to act nonchalant. "Maybe."

She doesn't say anything else, and Jared takes the opportunity to look back at Jensen. Aldis is pointing to where Jared and Genevieve are, saying something to Jensen that makes him raise an eyebrow, and then Jensen's leaving him and heading towards them.

"Hey, Gen," Jensen starts when he reaches them. "Aldis wants you over there."

Genevieve looks surprised--Jared's first clue--and says, "Oh. I wonder what for!" before walking away from both of them.

"They're up to something," Jared tells him.

Jensen looks up and snorts. "Are they ever not up to something?"

He's got a point.

The punch-line hits a second later, when Danneel shouts out, "Jared, Jensen! Look!" Jared looks towards Genevieve, takes in her shit-eating grin and groans inwardly. "Mistletoe," Danneel finishes, and this time they both groan as they look up.

Sure enough, there's white berries dangling above their heads, and Jared actually laughs.

"Right, because this is totally subtle."

Jensen shrugs, smirking. "Hey, points for effort. We should, y'know, at least humor them a little."

Before, Jared would probably make some quip, they'd both laugh awkwardly and then shake off their friends' eyes. Now, though, Jared leans into Jensen, grips his hip with one hand while Jensen tilts his head up, and then they're kissing, in front of twenty other people who start hooting and hollering. Jared laughs into the kiss and deepens it, running his tongue along Jensen's lip before slipping inside Jensen's mouth. Jensen groans into it and kisses harder, fisting the back of Jared's shirt.

By the time they pull away, the catcalls have stopped and apart from the low hum of Christmas music, everything's silent. Jensen's looking entirely too smug at Danneel and Jared mirrors it, first at Genevieve and then at Chad.

"Least now they won't wonder why I drag you away from the party early," Jensen says, and then Jared's laughing.

Genevieve takes that as her cue to speak. "Okay, nobody thought to fill us all in while we took the time to plan this out?"

"It took like three minutes," Aldis points out, and Genevieve glares at him as any potential guilt Jared could've felt for not telling her evaporates.

"It's the thought that counts! Or something," she insists.

"You could've told us you stopped being idiots," Danneel points out.

"Hey," Jensen says. "He was the idiot. I was the genius who figured out his flirting."

"Yeah, after _three years_ ," Jared points out with a huff.

"God help me, they're even cute when they bicker," Genevieve mutters. "Goddamn, I need a smoke."

"Me? 'M jus' glad Jay-man is gettin' laid for Christmas," Chad slurs. "Don' have to hear 'bout Ackles' _freckles_ no more."

Jensen smirks at that, then sours at Danneel's scoff. " _Freckles_? When you have to listen to a thirty minute phone conversation about dimples, _then_ you get to complain."

It kind of starts a whole "Which one of them was the most pathetic?" debate, which Jared quickly tunes out because it's not really something he wants to hear the verdict on.

Unfortunately, Jensen's not finished torturing him.

"Freckles?" he asks, eyebrow raised, smiling and feigning innocence.

Jared forces himself not to blush. "Shut up. They're cute." Then, he leers. "Dimples?" he shoots back.

Jensen scowls. "Oh, shut up," he says, but then he's smiling again at full force. "You love me."

 _Yeah_ , Jared thinks, going with it when Jensen leans in to kiss him again. _I kind of do._


End file.
